CJ 101

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Juvenile justice system

The aggregate of the government agencies that function to investigate, supervise, adjudicate, care for, or confine youthful offenders and other children subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

Delinquency

In the broadest usage, juvenile actions or conduct in violation of criminal law, juvenile status offenses, and other juvenile misbehavior.

Parens Patriae

A common law principle that allows the state to assume a parental role and to take custody of a child when he or she becomes delinquent, is abandoned, or is in need of care that the natural parents are unable or unwilling to provide.

Delinquent child

a child who has engaged in activity that would be considered a crime if the child were an adult. The term delinquent is used to avoid the stigma associated with the term criminal.

Undisciplined Child

A child who is beyond parental control, as evidenced by his or her refusal to obey legitimate authorities, such as school officials and teachers.

Dependent Child

A child who has no parents or whose parents or whose parents are unable to care for him or her.

Neglected child

A child who is not receiving the proper level of physical or psychological care from his or her parents or guardians or who has been placed up for adoption in violation of the law.

Abused Child

A child who has been physically, sexually, or mentally abused. Most states also consider a child who is forced into delinquent activity by a parent or guardian to be abused.

Status Offender

A child who commits an act that is contrary to the law by virtue of the offender's status as a child. Purchasing cigarettes, buying alcohol, and being truant are examples of such behavior.

Status Offense

An act or conduct that is declared by statute to be an offense, but only when committed by or engaged in by a juvenile and that can be adjudicated only by a juvenile court.

Juvenile Petition

A document filed in juvenile court alleging that juvenile is delinquent, a status offender, or a dependent and asking that the court assume jurisdiction over the juvenile or that an alleged delinquent be transferred to a criminal court for prosecution as an adult.

Intake

The first step in decision making regarding a juvenile making regarding a juvenile whose behavior or alleged behavior is in violation of the law or could otherwise cause a juvenile court to assume jurisdiction.

Adjudicatory Hearing

The fact-finding process by which the juvenile court determines whether there is sufficient evidence to sustain the allegations in a petition.

Teen Court

An alternative approach to juvenile justice in which alleged offenders are judged and sentenced by a jury of their peers.

Dispositional Hearing

The final stage in the processing of adjudicated juveniles in which a decision is made on the form of treatment or penalty that should be imposed on the child.

Juvenile Disposition

The decision of a juvenile court, concluding a dispositional hearing, that an adjudicated juvenile be committed to a juvenile correctional facility; be placed in a juvenile residence, shelter, or care or treatment program; be required to meet certain standards of conduct; or be released.

Blended Sentence

A juvenile court disposition that imposes both a juvenile sanction and an adult criminal sentence upon an adjudicated delinquent. The adult sentence is suspended if the juvenile offender successfully completes the term of the juvenile disposition and refrains from committing any new offense.